Boston explosions: Eyewitness accounts

The Boston Marathon explosions left a street littered with blood and debris, as spectators fled the area and paramedics hauled away stretchers. Here are some eyewitness reports from the scene.

Boston Globe reporter Steve Silva

He reported on Twitter:

"Blood everywhere, victims carried out on stretchers. I saw someone lose their leg, people are crying."

Laura McFarlane, Australia

She resides in New York and was at the finish line, greeting her friend who had just completed the race, when the explosions occurred.

"People were all turning to each other saying 'what the hell was that'. We knew something really bad had happened. We were being ushered away from the scene by police. On our way to the hotel a woman who was a VIP looked visibly shaken and said there were bodies everywhere and people were injured ... she was a mess. The resonance and the feeling beneath your feet was enough to know it was a massive explosion." Read the story.

Mark Hagopian, owner of the Charlesmark Hotel

He sought shelter in the basement of a restaurant. He told the AFP news agency:

"We saw people with their legs blown off. A person next to me had his legs blown off at the knee - he was still alive. It was bad, it was fast. There was a gigantic explosion. We felt wind on our faces. Police were saying: 'Get out, get out, leave, leave there may be more bombs'."

Jim Sloan, Australia

The 56-year-old from Albury finished the race about 10 minutes before the blasts.

"My 20-year-old daughter, who is presently studying in Edinburgh but came over here to support me at the event, she was standing at the finish line directly opposite where the blasts happened. If I'd been running a bit slower and been 10 minutes slower she would have been there when the blasts went off."

Fatma Tanis

She told the BBC she saw a "fireball" coming out of the air.

"People were panicked. A lot of people were crying, they were looking for the runners that they were waiting to come in through the finish line as well as family. That's when I thought it had become really serious because a lot of people started running away from the scene and they were crying and had cuts on their faces."

Boston Globe reporter David Abel

He tweeted:

"I was 10 feet from explosion. Shaken up. But not a scratch. Worst thing I ever saw."

Army veteran Thom Kennedy

The 43-year-old had just crossed the finish line when the first blast occurred. The army veteran, who recently returned from Afghanistan, told the Wall Street Journal the explosion "sounded like an IED"(improvised explosive device).

"I was about 50 feet away. I had just crossed the finish line. We were entering the recovery area when the first explosion went off. There were probably three or four people around me. We were all crouching down. Most of the people were looking back at the first explosion, wondering what it was, when the second explosion went off. When that went off, we all started calling our families as fast as we could. … It wasn't pandemonium yet because I don't think people really realised what was going on. … We heard the noise. We felt a little bit of the percussion wave. It sounded like an IED. That was the first reaction that I had..."

Mike Mitchell, Vancouver

The runner said smoke rose 50 feet into the air, and people began running and screaming after hearing the noise.